Review of Das Boot (1981) by Chrimle — 27 Jan 2019

I believe it has a good feel of authenticity due to all dialogues being in German and realistically portrayed what one would experience on a German submarine (as far as I could imagine).

That's all the good aspects I found worth mentioning.

Characters or "The Drama": Something that has been praised in the reviews before deciding to watch the movie - is pretty much non-existent. The characters lacked any introduction - except the usual hectic one in the beginning where you are bombarded with all of the characters' names . I could only name ONE member of the submarine by the end of the movie - in other words, ONE of all the characters. None of the characters has any personality except the usual team of; The emotional one, the posh one, the mentally questionable one, the missing home/relatives one and the decision-maker. The acting was both good and bad, it isn't short of intense death stares.

Objective or "The Adventure": Where are they going, what's the objective or mission? Lacking the concept of where they are, which might be reflecting the sense of the crew and shifting more focus on the submarine, after all - they do have a navigator. This lack of a mission led to - unsurprisingly - that the action came to them. Later on, when they do set up destinations it's either; briefly mentioned and reached right away or it's described in detail and - of course - becomes difficult.

Sound & Music: "We can hear more down here, than we can see up there." Keeping the music to a minimum for specific moments only or reflecting the crew's emotions is a good aspect. But the movie could be more reliant on or more telling with sound than words. To explain that the approaching "humming" is a ship - after establishing that a ship is approaching isn't that.

Story: This is apparently based on a novel... A fictitious narrative. Rushes through the last act like crossing it off the checklist, thus failing to make an impactful ending.

My expected ending: The ship they thought was abandoned and once again shot at, was one of the most impactful scenes - of the few. Therefore, I expected them to take their roles later on in some way. And so comes the situation where they are stuck at the bottom and manages to resurface. At this time, I expected the engines to not work, receive fire and they would be left to surrender...